U.S. appeals court restores Brady’s ‘Deflategate’ suspension…

A U.S. appeals court on Monday restored the four-game “Deflategate” suspension of New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, handing the National Football League a victory in the latest round in a battle with one of its marquee players.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York reversed a federal judge’s ruling that had overturned NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell’s decision to penalize Brady over his alleged involvement in a scheme to deflate footballs used in a 2015 playoff game. The Patriots won that game over the Indianapolis Colts putting them in the final where they won the Super Bowl.

Writing for the majority, U.S. Circuit Judge Barrington Parker said that under the players’ collective bargaining agreement, Goodell had “especially broad” authority as an arbitrator to decide whether to confirm Brady’s suspension.

“Our review of the record yields the firm conclusion that the Commissioner properly exercised his broad discretion to resolve an intramural controversy between the League and a player,” Parker wrote.

A statement from the NFL welcomed the ruling for recognizing that Goodell “properly exercised” his authority as laid out by the collective bargaining agreement “to act in cases involving the integrity of the game.”

The ruling came in a 2-1 vote by the three-judge panel, and followed arguments last month where a lawyer for the players’ union faced tough questioning that signaled the likely reversal of U.S. District Judge Richard Berman’s ruling.